Siemens Hearing Instruments presents binax—the world’s first hearing aid platform that has been clinically proven by two independent studies to give hearing aid wearers better speech recognition in cocktail-party situations than people with normal hearing. The two clinical studies were carried out at the University of Northern Colorado and the Hearing Center of the University of Oldenburg. Results indicated that Speech Reception Thresholds (SRT) improved up to 2.9 dB (a 25 percent advantage in speech understanding) for binax wearers compared to people with normal hearing.

The binax platform builds on the ground-breaking e2e wireless™ technology Siemens introduced a decade ago. Now in its third generation, e2e wireless 3.0 enables real-time exchange of audio signals among four microphones (two on each hearing aid in a bilateral fitting). Each hearing aid processes audio input from four microphones, thus creating a virtual 8-microphone network that delivers a heightened sensitivity of acoustic environment, or High Definition Sound Resolution (HDSR). For binax wearers, HDSR provides unprecedented localization and directionality, emulating the benefits of natural binaural hearing: better clarity, richer sound, and exceptional speech recognition—all delivered automatically without compromising spatial perception or battery life.

Key binaural features derive crucial practical benefits for the wearer:

Narrow Directionality: Focuses more precisely on the speech source at the front of the wearer by automatically narrowing the beam of the directional microphones. This helps wearers better recognize speech in demanding listening situations while maintaining spatial awareness.

Spatial Speech Focus: Highlights dominant speech from any direction, while suppressing background noise. It’s automatically activated when the wearer is in a car and does not affect spatial perception.

eWindScreen binaural: When in wind, strategically transmits audio signals from the instrument with better sound quality to the other one, without compromising spatial perception or speech intelligibility.

“Until now, there has never been technology available that effectively addressed the most common wearer complaints: hearing speech in noisy restaurants, cocktail parties, while driving in the car and hearing in wind,” said Scott Davis, CEO, Siemens Hearing Instruments. “The binax platform changes all that. It’s a solution that both hearing care professionals and patients have long waited for.”

touchControl App

The touchControl App turns virtually any Android or Apple smartphone into a hearing aid remote control. The app works with all binax hearing aids and does not require any intermediary device. Wearers can easily adjust volume, fine-tune treble, or select a listening program. The touchControl App is a free download from the App Store℠ and Google Play™.

easyTek wireless remote/streamer

The new easyTek™ is the successor to Siemens’ award-winning miniTek® and is available for Pure® and Carat™ binax hearing aids. easyTek is only two inches in diameter and weighs less than an ounce, yet its performance is superior to other streaming devices in its class. A single button controls streaming, answers phone calls, and connects to virtually any external audio source. easyTek works “out of the box” and seamlessly pairs with the users’ hearing aids to provide added functionality and Bluetooth streaming. easyTek is made for both iPhone and Android devices.

easyTek App

When used with the easyTek, the easyTek App transforms Android and iPhones into a hearing aid control center. The app makes the most of binax technology using the Spatial Configurator (SC) feature. Using the SC, wearers can visually extend easyTek’s functionally by manually adjusting the direction and span of the hearing aids’ microphones via their smartphone. This gives wearers instant control over both where and who to listen, regardless of whether the sound source is coming from the left, right, in front or behind. This allows a wearer, for example, to focus on the conversation of the person next to him at dinner, even if distracting, more dominant speech is coming from another direction. The easyTek App is a free download via the App Store and Google Play.

Siemens’ binax technology, touchControl App, easyTek Remote, and easyTek App will be on display at the 59th International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA) in Hanover, Germany, October 15–17. Pure, Carat and Ace™ will be the first hearing aids introduced on the binax platform.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of combined cycle turbines for power generation, a leading provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions and automation and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading supplier of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2013, which ended on September 30, 2013, revenue from continuing operations totaled €75.9 billion and income from continuing operations €4.2 billion. At the end of September 2013, Siemens had around 362,000 employees worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com